Did Tyrannosaurus rex and its kin possess fleshy lips that concealed their savage teeth when their mouths were closed? A recent study of a new species of Daspletosaurus concluded that the answer was a negative, but as with virtually all paleontological papers, that conclusion is by no means set in stone.
This T. rex, released by Mojö Fun back in 2015, clearly does not possess any lips. On the contrary, its teeth are clearly visible jutting out from its upper jaw. But unlike the overwhelming majority of T. rex toys, and of theropod toys in general for that matter, this one has been sculpted with its mouth completely shut. It still manages to look reasonably ferocious though, thanks to the size of its teeth and its exaggerated brow ridges. The influence of Jurassic Park strikes again!
Also unlike most T. rex toys nowadays, this one has been sculpted in an inaccurate upright stance with its tail resting on the ground behind it. This gives it a height of 11 cm and a length of 22 cm. Its main colour is light orange with a light grey underbelly and three black stripes running horizontally down its body. The eyes are light green, the teeth are white, and the claws are black. A fairly decent colour scheme, but the teeth on mine have been painted very sloppily. The repaint of this toy has a dark brown, beige, and black scheme with creepy red and white eyes.
The sculpting on this toy is okay, but not spectacular. The neck and flanks are wrinkly while the head, back, legs, and tail have a basic scale pattern to them. There are also overlapping scales on the toes, which no T. rex toy would be complete without. Accuracy-wise, this toy has a few strong points going for it, namely a very stout and muscular neck and appropriately tiny arms. But in addition to the upright stance and the oversized brow ridges, the tail and feet appear too short and the arms have pronated wrists and are spaced too far apart from one another.
Overall, this is an average T. rex at best. Children would probably enjoy playing with it, but aside from the closed mouth, there really isn’t anything noteworthy about this toy. You may instead want to go with Mojö’s more recent version with a moving jaw. Or you can shell out more for their larger and way scarier “Hunting” version, which comes in either green or red.
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Muy mucho barfo.
This tyrannosaurus of Mojo reflects the fortunate evolution of that company since the red and green tyrannosaurs are from my point of view quite acceptable and that they are far from the average of genius for good. Your tyrannosaurus rex are superior to the average of 2017.